I don’t know how many times I’ve been out with friends in
Seattle when I’ve been blindsided by this question. “What time do
you need to catch your boat?”

Naturally, my jaw goes slack and the hamster upstairs starts
running a little faster. Oh, and I pull out my iPod Touch. The rest
of this post is also for you iPhone owners.

Those crumpled ferry schedules in your pockets are SO 2004. Now,
when you need to find out when the next boat leaves, you reach for
your smartphone. This doesn’t really apply to you hardened ferry
commuters who can recite the schedule for your usual run backwards,
frontwards, divided by three and in Swahili. But for occasional
rider, or those of us who sometimes use other routes (I take
Edmonds/Kingston to get to my Dad’s house, but use the
Bremerton/Seattle ferry 90 percent of the time.) having access to
schedules on your iPhone/iPod Touch are mighty handy.

Right now, there’s a $5 app, an app in development that says
it’ll be free, and my slightly more homebrew solution that’s
gloriously free.

Ferry times and service alerts for all the runs.
A map of the routes.
Access to the state’s terminal Web cams.
The ability to search schedules for different dates.

My thoughts: I own this app, actually. It has a load of features
(some of which require internet access that I don’t always have on
my iPod, but what iPhone users would.) and is essentially a
repackaged version of the Washington State Ferries’ Web
site. You can access the full schedules without an internet
connection. The next app, which is apparently in
development, could be a problem for this developer. The reason? It
appears to offer the same features, but will apparently be free. I
like the convenience of a schedule in my pocket, along with alerts
and cams, but $5 is kind of steep. (As a side note, I downloaded a
much earlier version and don’t recall paying $5. I can’t remember
for sure, but I think it was a couple bucks.)

*NOTE: This app was created by a private developer, not the
ferry system.*

2.)iFerry, a effort by a
Bainbridge company that is “coming soon” to the app store,
according to its Web site.

It looks like it’ll have much the same functionality of the
previous app, with a few nice additional touches. And it says it’ll
be free.

Let’s run down it’s planned features:

Current schedules for all the routes.

Real-time route alerts.

Terminal cameras.

Fare information, including those for bikes or larger vehicles
or multi-passes. (A nice addition, IMHO)

Updated wait times for ferries.

My thoughts: Looks neat. Hope it stays free. Gonna put a dent in
the other app’s sales if it is free. It will have ads. But the
other app does, too. Keep an eye on both apps to see what happens
when they compete. Will they both be free? Will they both decide to
charge? Will they not have any real impact on the other?

3.)
My super-cheap workaround.
If you just CAN’T wait until the new app, and don’t want to spend
money on the first one, have I got a slightly convoluted, but free
solution for you. I’ll give you a couple, actually.

First, for those of us with iPod Touches who don’t want to pay
$8 (YIKES) for WSF’s Boingo wifi, you can simply head to the WSF
site at home, and pull up the schedule or schedules to your
most-used routes. On your iPod (Or iPhone) align the schedule so it
fills the screen nicely, and hit the round button, and top on/off
button at the same time. I’ll make a screen grab from your device,
and save it in your Photos thingamajig. Every time you need to scan
the schedule, just pull up the photo. Our Kitsap schedules stay
pretty much the same. Naturally you won’t get automatic ferry
updates, terminal cameras and other gee whiz geegaws, but it’s
f-r-e-e. And you don’t have to worry about losing that paper
schedule you crumpled in your pocket.

For those of you fancy pants people with iPhones, here’s a free
workaround to get the two most important features: The schedule and
service alerts.

First, you could just bookmark the schedule page. Or, you could
add that page as an icon on your home page. Just pull up the
schedule in your browser, click the + button, and select “Add to
Home Screen”. Icon created! Magic!

What, you ask, does this video of the new Ferrari 458 Italia
have to do with your commute? Nothing. Again, sorry. Nothing. Well,
it IS a car. And some of you commute by car. There, it all makes
sense now.

But we all need a Friday evening diversion, right? Yes, I did
the whole enviro/wallet-friendly hypermiling exercise. But I really
like cars. Fast cars. Non enviro/wallet-friendly cars. Someday I’ll
still never have owned one of these. But hey, at least when you
don’t own a Ferrari, you can afford the insurance.

No, they sure don’t make cars like they used to. In a few
respects, we can be thankful for that. What does this have to do
with your commute? Hopefully, nothing. But I thought it was a cool
video. I haven’t posted on this blog in ages (since the hypermiling
thing, really.) but I thought this was too cool not to share. The
IIHS showed posted this video that pretty clearly illustrates the
difference between new cars and old cars. It’s a 1959 Chevrolet Bel
Air versus a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu.

Washington State Department of Transportation has been taking
photos of the construction at the Hood Canal Bridge and posting
them on Flickr.
Click play on the slide below to see all the photos so far.

It vindicates all that hard work . If one gets philosophical, one
could ask, "If one is a hypermiler, is one really doing anything?
Can one perform an action that has no dictionary-approved verb?"
(One is also the philosopher’s preferred pronoun.)

I was walking to my car after work recently when a maroon pickup
roared past.

Hard on the brakes, a quick look at the intersection, and the
engine growled again as the truck accelerated – to another stop
sign.

All I could think of is, “Man, that guy’s wasting a lot of money
for nothing.” I never would have thought that before.

I’m not here to wag my finger with a holier-than-thou rant about
drivers like that. I was “that guy” about two months ago.

I didn’t know if hypermiling was going to work, but I decided to
bring you guys along for the slow, slow ride. As far as the blog is
concerned, I’m done.

I’ve become a bit obsessed with, and transformed by, the
experience. I’ve discovered the near limits of my car’s performance
on the opposite end of the spectrum. I’m much more aware of the
cost of driving. I even learned a lot about myself.

Usually we write stories and never hear a word from the public.
With these blog entires (especially when they ran in the paper.) I
heard from more people than I ever have – especially the one about
coasting in neutral. (BTW, I don’t do it much anymore. Sixth gear
works fine. And a informative morsel – the nice folks at Kitsap
County District Court did some sleuthing. Guess how many tickets
they found for coasting in neutral? One.)

In two months, I burned five tanks of dino juice and averaged
33.7 miles per gallon. (And that includes a couple tanks where my
right foot got a little heavy.) Up from 28 before. I’m living proof
that a lead-footed rat race commuter can save money without queuing
up for a Prius.

Did I mention I saved about $50?

Some people hypermile as a political statement against American
dependence on foreign oil. Some people do it to save the
environment. Well and good.

I just want to keep more money in the bank. Feel free to choose
your own reasons. That’s the crux of hypermiling – it’s your
choice. You don’t have to boost your mpgs, but the money’s there
waiting to be saved.
Do any combination of these things, and you’ll save at least a
little.

* Keep your tires properly inflated.
* Change your oil.
* Take all the junk out of your trunk.
* Accelerate gently, and try to gently slow to a stop.
* You know the speed limit? Obey it.
* Imagine there’s an egg between your foot and the gas pedal.
* Unless an emergency maneuver requires it, don’t drive over 60 on
the highway. Use cruise control to prevent your lead foot from
taking over.
Pick out more of the legal hypermiling tips, and
you’ll save even more.

More importantly, the first step is to change the way you think
about driving. You’ve got to convince yourself that rocketing
around usually doesn’t get you there much faster – ESPECIALLY in
urban driving. (That’s where my greatest gains were made.) On the
highway, stay right and take a deep breath. It’s OK to let people
pass you. If you’re late for work, is 2 minutes really a big deal?
It can be, but at least consider it. If it’s Saturday and you’re
just getting groceries, what’s the hurry?

Now that I’m done blogging about this adventure, I will keep
hypermiling. I’m hooked. (Maybe not on long road trips.) We can’t
control how much we pay per gallon, but we can control how many
gallons we use and how many miles we drive. I’m cutting back on how
much I drive, too.

More often, we either grumble about what we payed at the last
fill up, or wax nostalgic about when gas was only (insert small
number here.). Consider the future, and whether you’ll change the
way you drive.
I’ve been number happy the last couple months with the blog, so
I’ll toss one last equation your way. (Help calculating is HERE and HERE.)

Imagine it’s 2012 and you have the same respectably-economical
24 mpg car, and you drive the same average of 15,000 miles a year.
And get this, gas is $6 a gallon.

Here’s an odd way to imagine how you’ll pay for your petrol.

Drive over to the bank and ask the (now stunned) teller for a
wheelbarrow packed with rolls of quarters. Sorry, you’re going to
get terrible gas mileage on the drive home.

Anyway, grab a couple rolls every time you get behind the wheel.
For the next 365 days, every time your odometer ticks off another
mile, toss a quarter out the window.

It took a pair of running shoes and a conversation with a
coworker for me to realize something. Thinking in miles per gallon
is (almost) pointless.

It’s good to keep track of how many mpgs you cobble together
each tank, with the goal of scrounging up more. But when you’re
really trying to map out your finances, think in terms of cost per
mile, which is an easy bit of math to the cost per trip.

Reporter Steve Gardner brought that concept up over a
conversation a while back, and it made sense when I thought about a
recent trip I made to buy a pair of running shoes. I live in West
Bremerton, and couldn’t think of anywhere in town to procure said
sneakers. (That’s a WHOLE other issue by itself.)

What if I drive the approximately 15 miles to the consumer
megaplex in Silverdale? What’s that trip cost me? If gas is $4, I
get 34 mpg, and drive 30 miles roundtrip, I’ve spent $3.60 on
fermented dinosaur juice.

What if your truck gets 15 mpg? The same trip costs you $8.10.
Is it worth it?

(If you really want do extract the numbers, including insurance,
etc., go HERE.)

A logical way to think about your next shopping trip might go
like this: I need to drive 30 miles roundtrip for my Very Important
Household Object. If my SUV’s gonna charge me $8.10 for the
pleasure of driving, is that a trip I’m willing to make? Will it
cost less to buy it online, including shipping? Can I take care of
several errands at the same time, avoiding future trips and saving
some dough?

(If you really want to get fancy with the math and Google maps,
figure out the costs of your ferry destination – Seattle or Edmonds
– versus driving around.)

Every time we step or drive onto a ferry (if it’s a
discretionary trip) most of us instinctively do the “Is the cost
worth it?” dance. When we drive, we don’t.

If we take the cost-per-mile equation further, and calculate our
yearly gasoline bill…well, the numbers can speak for
themselves.

The left column includes groups of two. A high and low number.
The low is a theoretical current mpg. The high is an mpg increase
of 20 percent, a figure that isn’t ridiculous to attain if you
hypermile, or EcoDrive, or whatever you want to call it.

The next column shows the cost per mile for the respective mpg
ratings.

Column three is your annual fuel bill, at $4, if you drive
15,000 miles (A figure that seems pretty commonly used as an
average yearly clip.)

The fourth shows your annual cost if you drive 12,000 miles.

15 .27
$4050 $3240
18 .22 $3300
$2640

20 .20
$3000 $2400
24 .17 $2550
$2040

25 .16
$2400 $1920
30 .13 $1950
$1560

30 .13
$1950 $1560
36 .11 $1650
$1320

Just for giggles, let’s peer into our crystal ball for a moment.
In 2004, gas was around $2. If it’s $6 by 2012, what’s your annual
gasoline bill going to be?

If you go by today’s average fuel economy in America (See it
HERE. PDF) of 22.5 mpg, the average American
will pay $4,050 per year if they drive 15,000 miles. If they still
have a 15 mpg truck or sports car, it’s $6,000 (40 cents per
mile).

It’s the same thing, really. Well, EcoDriving is like
hypermiling-light. But the premise is very similar to why I started
this whole blog adventure. My motivations are more closely tied to
my pocketbook than CO2 emissions, but that’s a positive
bonus.

You don’t have to buy a new car or hybrid to reduce your fuel
bill. You do have to overhaul the WAY you drive. It’s not that
hard.

By the way, I filled up this morning and got less-than-stellar
fuel economy – 32.2 mpg. But I have a confession. A couple days
there I got acquainted with the gas pedal again. I just
can’t help myself. Still, for the tank I managed 4 mpg better than
my previous average.

Today, I had one of those zen-like moments, just like I did when
I learned how to beat those pesky Bullet Bills, or later, when I
discovered that a carefully placed crouch in Super Mario Bros. 3
leads to a secret room.

People of my generation (At least the slightly geeky set who
don’t mind prolonged couch surfing.) should be called “The Gaming
Generation.” Not pinochle, but video games. Eight bit, then 16, 32,
64, 128, and now 98073497239084023.

And video games might help your driving.

Yes, that’s right motorists of my generation, Super Mario Bros.
could help you use less gasoline.

It all came together. I’d seen isolated reference after isolated
reference about hypermiling as a game. A game, of course! Duh!

Right now I’m still playing pinochle in my Vibe. My games
involve throttle actions, deft shifting and praying that the gas
needle moves as slowly southward as possible. But this game could
be SO 8-bit.

I’m getting closer to buying a ScanGaugeII, a digital device that plugs into
your car and gives you real-time fuel consumption data.

“With the ScanGauge, the effect of driving style on fuel economy
is instantly apparent. My mileage game just turned pro, and now I
can have as much fun as those Prius and Civic hybrid aficionados
with their fancy dashboard displays,” wrote metrompg.com.

Sounds like the Camry Hybrid is even better.

A CNNMoney.com article about the Camry Hybrid
tells of the virtuous mpg game that is “Excellent!”. When your trip
is at least 35 mpg, “Excellent!” flashes on the dash. (I should
lobby Toyota to include “All I have to say about that is,
asphinctersayswhat.” when you’re below 35 mpg in the next Camry
Hybrid.)

Lots of newer cars already have similar (though more boring than
the Camry) readouts. I’m all for them. After all, we’re hardwired
to compete whenever there’s an LCD around.

It’s no secret that auto manufacturers are doing whatever they
can to spur a sale or two. What if the mpg gauge kept track of your
mileage, as compared to the vehicle’s combined average calculated the EPA? By the time your next
service rolls around, if you beat the EPA, you get a free oil
change. Or an album from iTunes.

It’s all the fun of Super Mario Bros. and you get paid. And your
thumbs aren’t sore.

When I pulled up to the gas pump today, I
imagined the person before me doing a mental sprint over their bank
balance. Eight dollars to spare. (Maybe they just filled up a gas
can for the lawnmower, but you never know.)

When I filled up, disappointment. I’d seen it coming. Only 32.6
mpg. Still better that the old days of 28. I think three things
were at work here. 1.) More city driving brought the number down.
(Don’t assume you’ll always get the same mpg. The mix of
city/highway driving matters.) 2.) There was one day when I was in
a hurry (Again, I know. You can scold me.) and I didn’t drive
conservatively. 3.) I’m pretty sure my alignment is a tad off, I
know my tires need to be rotated and I need an oil change. I’m
hoping the oil change and tire rotation will help me out. (And that
the tire rotation fixes the alignment issue so I don’t have to pay
for a regular alignment.)

Oh, and the question? Yes, gas has dropped in price, but it’s
still plenty expensive.